More Candy, More Crackers

I hear there was a storm.

Things got burly here on the Rusty Coast on Thursday. Big fluffs of snow started falling in the afternoon. That was eventually replaced with driving rain and strong winds by the evening. I braved the epic weather to attend the Nanaimo-Cedar Farmer’s association meeting that night to make a presentation on the 100 mile diet. You know the saying ‘preaching to the choir’? Well, I felt I was preaching to the apostles. Regardless, the local farmers sat and listened politely as a rambled and ranted on about the benefits of a locally-grown diet. Thanks for having me guys!

That night, the big storm rolled and I rolled over and slept like a baby. The next morning there was tree carnage all over the evening news. Folks are without power all other Pacific Northwest. There’s footage of monster waves crashing over the Victoria seawall. The radio is spewing a litany of traffic warnings due to impotent traffic lights.

I hope everyone is managing to stay warm and dry. I don’t want to rub anyone’s nose into it but yesterday was a delightful day and there was almost no sign of a monster winter storm here on the Rusty Coast.

Here’s some pics from my afternoon wandering through my neighbourhood:

From the top of the hill, looking out into Horseshoe Bay and Newcastle Island on the right.





























The marina and seawall.















I loved how the stark bones of the trees look a little like veins.

Later on, I popped over to Nanoose Edibles organic farm to grab some goodies. Along with a collard greens, shallots, broccoli and apples, I managed to score some Jerusalem artichokes:

They have nothing to do with Jerusalem and little to do with artichokes. They’re also known as sunchokes or sunroots, as the First Nations called them. These knobby veggies have inulin (not to be confused with insulin) instead of starch. There is indication that this form of carbohydrate helps moderate blood sugar levels. They’ve been recommended for people with Type 2 diabetes. They’re also high in iron.

They have as crispy, sweet taste like a water chestnut when eaten raw. They also roast up beautifully, great in stir fry or steamed and make a lovely creamy vegetable soup base. If stored properly in the fridge, they can keep for months.

Nanoose Edibles is opened Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the winter. Give them a call 250-4682-2332 to for their hours and selection.

Back at home, I was geared up for some holiday baking and candy making. With the humidity holding relatively low, I figured I’d do a few more batches of brittle. I made up a batch of molasses brittle and a feisty batch of spicy peanut brittle (the top two in the photo below). This time I added ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper to a 2 pound batch of clear peanut brittle. It was just enough kick! The molasses brittle is a favorite of mine. It uses molasses instead of corn syrup. It results in a dark, rich brittle. I used a mix of organic peanuts, cashews, almonds and local hazelnuts.

I also whipped up a couple of crackers. I did a repeat of the Gomashio (black sesame) cracker, this time adding some cracked black pepper. I also did a lemon black pepper cornmeal cracker topped with some of Hilary’s St. Denis cheese. I used locally milled whole wheat flours and kamut flour from True Grain bakery for the crackers.

Then I realized it was past 8pm. Where does the time go? With a few chops and some quick sautéing, I managed to pull together a chicken pasta pesto with a half a local chicken breast, frozen pesto from this summer's basil bounty, some of the organic broccoli from Nanoose Edibles and local onion, peppers. Topped with a grating of a mix of Hilary’s St. Denis cheese and Little Qualicum’s Raclette cheese, it was a rusty and hearty end to a whirlwind day!

Have a great 100 Mile Weekend!

Jen

It was a dark and nutty night....

Another big storm is headed our way today. Already a tens of thousands of people are without power on the Rusty Island and mainland. Yesterday, power flickered on and off all day here, threatening us with a blackout but I called it’s bluff and we remained juiced up. I don’t think I ought to push it. It’s a bit odd that we haven’t lost our power in this old house during these past wind storms when everyone we know has been dining by candlelight. Especially since we often lose electricity if a bird flies too close to our power lines.

Yesterday we had a glimmer of sun and even a 7-lane highway rainbow fill the sky. And you know what they say, ‘Make candy when the sun shines.’

I’ve been wanting to make peanut brittle. It’s a tradition for this time of year for me. Unfortunately, it’s been way too humid to be making it. Usually you want humidity to be under 60% to make a good hard candy. We’ve been hovering around 100% for the last several weeks. The extra moisture in the air can be reabsorbed by the cooling candy and leave you with a soggy brittle.

Yesterday, the humidity reading reached the low 70s and I figured that that’s probably as low as it’s going to get. I pulled out my candy thermometer and made a batch of spicy peanut brittle. The power sputtered a few times but it didn’t seem to affect the final product.

The spice came from a ¼ teaspoon of red chili pepper flakes I added. It’s got a nice afterglow to it. I think I’m going to have to make a feistier version and a molasses brittle with local hazelnuts. I’ll keep you posted.

I was also going to do some baking but with the power hiccupping back and forth I decided against it. Instead, DH and I headed over to Westwood Lake to take advantage of the relatively dry weather. The 6km trail around the lake has a nice mix of hills and few wooden bridges and boardwalks and as is picturesque as it gets.

We often use the trail for running. Well, DH goes for a run. I go for a run/brisk walk/skip/puddle jump. I figure as long as I clock in an average of 50 or so minutes for each 6km lap, I’m doing ok.

The wind was bellowing across the forest. The lake was huge with whitecaps and the trails were strewn with windfall. The rain came and twirled about. It certainly made for a dramatic jaunt. I love being in the forest when it rains. At least, when I’m not carrying a heavy backpack and I have a hot shower and cup of tea waiting for me at home.

We had invited our friends, Karin and Dave, over for dinner. In exchange for dinner, Dave fixed our dining room light and was DH’s PS2 date for the evening while Karin and I had a knitting session. We also had our usual last minute drop-in guest. With 5 mouths to feed and a questionable power supply, I opted for another quick and easy stir-fry noodles dish. This time I did noodles in a Thai peanut sauce. I had some leftover Chinese BBQ pork, a ton of local veggies and Japanese buckwheat noodles. I spent 10 minutes of playing human food processor to turn the veggies into a pile of slaw. My veggies consisted of chayote, cabbage, carrots, onions, mushrooms, bean sprouts and red pepper. Simply stir fry those and the BBQ pork, as in the Singapore chow mai recipe. While that was going, I boiled up some water for the buckwheat noodles. The noodles took only a few minutes to cook up. As soon as they were done, I dumped in with the stir-fried veggies. The sauce was my Thai It Up sauce with a dollop of organic peanut butter. A sprinkle of peanuts and it was done.

The sauce was a balanced melding of the rich peanut butter, countered with the sour, savory, spicy kick of the Thai It Up sauce. The buckwheat noodles have a nutty taste that echoes the nutty sauce. It was simple bowl of comfort food with a twist.

Along with the noodles, I put out a jar of homemade spicy pickled carrots that I had canned in the summer. The carrots were locally grown baby Dutch carrots. I can’t remember which farm I got them from but they’re super sweet and don’t get very big. They’re great for canning because you don’t need to peel or cut them. Simply wash them really well and they’re good to go.

We finished off our meal with tea, homemade fruit crisp made with locally grown Jonagold, Northern Spy and Belle du Boskoop apples, Anjou pears and cranberries and some of that spicy peanut brittle. A sweet and nutty ending to a sweet and nutty day!

Happy Eating!

Jen

Crappy candy may give you the runs

Well, in the ongoing caravan of corporate food recalls, Hershey's has jumped onto the bandwagon with one of their own. Hershey's Canada has recalled it's chocolate and candy bars because they might be contaminated with salmonella.

The products included in the recall have date codes ranging from 6417 to 6455 and were manufactured between Oct. 15 and Nov. 10.

Salmonella can cause symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Which means that Oh Henry! bar will look just the same going into you the same as it does coming out.

Just stop eating crappy corporate candy. The salmonella isn't the most dangerous thing in it. Unfortunately, whereas foreign bacteria is categorized as a health hazard, they haven't come around to doing to same to high fructose corn syrup.

Jen

The Yin & Yang of Kiwi

Before I fill you all in my tasty weekend, I have a few things to take care of.

First off, I take back what I said about the rain in the last entry. From the sounds of it, I’d better book my spot with Noah. The rain is getting so bad that DH has decided to cut his big climbing trip short and head home.

Secondly, (Jen pulls her soapbox from underneath her chair), I’m sick and tired of the Kiddie Candy Cartel. Less than a week after we were held hostage by the annual Candy Begging holiday, I have a young girl knocking on my door begging for me to buy crappy candy for more than I spend on real chocolate. The girl was selling stuff that couldn’t even be called chocolate since the chalky crap that covers the questionable fillings are so low in cocoa content that they aren’t allowed to be labeled ‘chocolate’. According to her, this is part of her a youth job initiative to teach students responsibility, how to count money and how to interact with the public. Right.

I wonder what sort lesson we’re really teaching these kids considering the levels of obesity and diabetes are rising steadily amongst that demographic and here we are encouraging children to hawk the same things that will make them unhealthy. What’s even more absurd is that it’s the same freaking candy that all the other schools are using for fundraising. Does Hershey's Canada have some sort of monopoly on school fundraisers? Or is this simply the fault of a bunch of imaginatively-challenged adults that can’t think of a better way to fund school programs other than using kids as sugar-pushers?

Schools are completely missing the boat here. There are plenty of local farms and food producers that would be perfect for school fundraisers.

So did I buy a box of candy? Well kinda no and kinda yes. I gave her money for a box and asked her to drop it off at a Food Bank box. I know, folks who use that service don’t need any more high fructose corn syrup, trans fat and other nutritional sludge in their system either. I just kinda felt bad for the girl which is partly the reason why they keep sending those kids out to sell this horrid stuff. Grrrr.

Now onto the rest of the show…

I spent the weekend giving a couple a friends a crash course on that is good and tasty on this crust of the island. Since they lived the Jinglepot Rd. area, we started off Saturday with a quick stop at Gary Argyle’s farm where we found beautiful tomatoes going for 75cents! Gary says that he’ll have one, maybe two more weeks of tomatoes. I stocked up with about 15lb to see us for the next few months. I also grabbed a couple pounds of green tomatoes and some really, really sweet carrots.

Amongst our other stops were Yellowpoint Cranberries to grab several pounds of cranberries and Kiwi Cove Lodge where Peggy had a case of arguta kiwi fruits waiting for us. They are the last of the season the frost did in the ones left on the vine. With our bounty we headed back to their place where we canned, froze and feasted in celebration of bounty.

Canning, freezing and preserving can be a bit intimidating for the uninitiated and stressful even for practiced preserve pros. Doing it with a couple of friends is a great way to get around all that. Take advantage of local produce when the price is right. Get a couple of friends together and work out a production line. In a few hours you will all have a bounty of preserved food to see you through the leaner months of the winter when a tomato is scarcer than a tan line. There are several websites and books to teach you how to preserve food. Nanaimo Community Gardens also offers courses on it.

Tonight, I’m dining solo. In preparation for the week ahead, I roasted up a bunch of veggies to draw from for my meals. I did up the carrots I got from Gary’s farm, onions, red peppers, butternut squash, parsnips, potatoes and several cloves of garlic. I simply chopped everything up into bite size cubes (1-2 cms) and popped them onto lightly oiled pans. I didn’t even bother peeling the squash or the carrots. Butternut squash skin is so thin it doesn’t really matter. Carrots don’t really need to be peeled if their under 1 inch in diameter. Every culinary student and chef out there is gasping in horror right now. I know, we’re supposed to peel everything naked. We’re such veggie perverts. Some veggies need to be peeled because their skin imparts a bitter taste. Other times it’s simply an esthetic thing. Peeled carrots make for a more refined dish. Well, I’m about as refined as rusty chainsaw so no peeled carrots or squashes for me tonight.

I placed them on the middle 2 racks at 325F for 20-30 mins depending on the density of the vegetable. I kept them all segregated with the denser vegetables (carrots and squash) together in one pan and the others in another pan. For about 20 mins of chopping and 20-30 mins of letting the oven do it’s thing, I have enough roasted veggies to see me through to next week.

Now, onto today’s food experiment, the arguta kiwis. I had about 5lbs that needed to be used ASAP. My friend made a gorgeous, yummy kiwi-ginger jam with her lot. Since the arguta kiwis are so naturally sweet, we only had to use 1/6^th of the sugar called for in the recipe. We used No-sugar pectin. Since I had cased of jams and jellies already, I opted to pass on jamming them. Instead I went the yin-yang route and made a kiwi-lime sorbet and a kiwi hot sauce.

Since the arguta kiwis are non-fuzzy and only need their stems plucked off, they're easy to prep. Here are my Fast & Dirty kiwi recipes:

First the Yin of the Kiwi - Kiwi-Lime Sorbet

4 cups of kiwi puree

zest and juice of one lime or lemon (optional)

1/3 cup of simple syrup

Again, due to the sweetness of the fruit, I opted to play it conservative with the simple syrup which is nothing more than 1 part water with 1.5 parts sugar boiled together until clear.

Basically mix all the ingredients together, chill in the fridge for a couple and hours. Prepare in your ice-cream maker as directed. Or freeze in a baking pan, stirring every twenty minutes until it’s sorbet-like. Peggy at Kiwi Cove lodge also suggested freezing this in ice cube trays to be used for smoothies or daquiris.

And now for the Yang of the Kiwi – Kiwi Hot Sauce

I made this largely because I was out of hot sauce. I actually was looking out for a good hot sauce these last few weeks and today realized, ‘Duh, I could just make some.’ I still had some lantern pepper from a Providence farms in the fridge and some local jalapenos in the freezer so I used those for my spice. Use what peppers you like. Jalapenos, scotch bonnets, little red thai, lanterns or habaneros. This recipe is for a medium spicy hot sauce. I prefer hot sauces that actually aren’t all heat and allow you to savor the flavour of the sauce and them have a delayed kick.

2 cups of kiwi puree

1/3 cup apple juice – I used unsweetened apple juice from Westwood Orchards

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar – I used one from Fruit First Farms in the Cowichan Valley

5 lantern peppers and 2 jalapenos – I use scissors to cut and dice the peppers right into the pot.

1 tablespoon honey (optional)– I used a local dark fir honey. It’s much more flavorful.

With a hand blender, I pureed it all in a pot and them simmered the sauce over medium heat for 10 mins. I poured it into a sterilized bottle. This will keep in the fridge for a couple of months if it doesn't get eaten up first.

For dinner tonight I prepared a simple open omelet with roasted veggies, fromage frais from Little Qualicum cheeseworks and some of my kiwi hot sauce. The roasted veggies offered a nice bit of flavour and texture and the fromage frais helped richen it up. I really like the way my sauce brought a touch of sweetness with a slow mellow burn to the whole dish. Definitely a keeper.














And for dessert:

I love the popping of the kiwi seeds. I guess you could strain it through a fine sieve if you want a smoother, more refined sorbet. But, you know, rusty chainsaw, yadda yadda. It is the skin and bones that give most things their character.

Enjoy!

Jen

Please pardon the mess...

What do you expect from someone who decided to start a new blog just days before Elf Hunting season begins?? So the house is a minor catastrophe. How the heck did my knitting crap get all over the freaking place and how come last week I couldn't find a single yarn needle and today there's a colony of them that have taken the coasters as hostages??

I can explain. I've been making 'Happy Birthday Jesus!' gifts all weekend. This year it's brittle. Partly because I love brittle and so if I love it then everybody else loves its. Dems the rules. Also because I had pretty much all the ingredients and my bank account is a bit barren.

I made pumpkin & sesame seed molasses brittle, plain ole peanut brittle, spicy pecan brittle and an almond toffee. Miracles of miracles, there's actually some left for gifts.

So the kitchen got a bit messy and then I had to bake bread yesterday. It was supposed to only be a bread morning but it ended up being a bread day. All day and into the night. I made 3 loaves of walnut-kamut, 3 loaves of seed & multigrain, 2 loaves of fruit-anise seed bread and a patridge in a pear tree. But it was neccessary. We were completely out of bread. Nada, not a crumb. I didn't know what to sop my soup up with. I mean, I make soup just so I can sop it up with bread. We cannot soup without sopping!

Somehow a relaxed morning of making a few loaves of bread ended up turning the house into a Atkin's Dieter's nightmare. Not that I'm complaining. It's just that by the time I pulled the last of the bread out of the oven, my DH called and said he was on his way home and I realized that a whole day had already risen and baked! I hadn't even had a shower yet!

I pampered myself with half a loaf of walnut-kamut bread accompanied with a good couple knobs of butter and a thick slice of real Derbyshire cheese.

Dinner was a spicy pork & eggplant Thai-sort-of soup and walnut bread. I just browned a pound of lean ground pork, then threw in the last of a batch of roasted eggplant, a few sliced mushrooms, carrots, onions, a smacked loonie of ginger, a couple of cloves of garlic . A couple glugs of chinese cooking wine, a couple healthy jizzes of fish sauce, a spoonful of sambal oelek, a few szechuan peppercorns were added once everything was cooked up. I added enough boiling water into the pot to cover the ingredients plus and inch and let it simmer for 10 mins. If I had them, I would've added some scallions and some lemongrass. Cilantro wouldn've been nice too.

I also had a bag of brussel sprouts and a few stalks of gai lan than were close to their due date. Those I cut up and sauteed with some chopped garlic. Upon serving, I just added the greens ontop of the soup.

This morning I breakfasted on the seed and multigrain bread and a couple slices of parmigiano reggiano. There's something so satisfying about bread and cheese. Especially if the bread is homemade and the cheese is good, honest cheese. I buy my parmigiano in chunks no bigger than my fist. If you only enjoy parmigiano in the grated form then do yourself a favor and cut yourself a slice. It's the only way you can get the full-mouth experience of parmigiano reggiano. A good chunk will have these amazing naturally formed salt crystals that crackle as you bite into them. The taste is earthy and sexy. Like the unadulterated sweat of a Roman slave boy...oh, sorry, got carried away. Anyways, it's really good.

I supposed this makes me a parmigiano snob. If you want to use that dessicated cat puke in those green containers that is being sold as 'Grated Parmesan Cheese' on your jarred pasta sauce, go right ahead. I mean that chunky ketchup backwash could probably be improved by the horse musk aroma of that processed lactose atrocity. But if you're going to go through the trouble of making a homemade sauce then why do you want to slap it across the face and spit into it's mouth? I know, it's expensive but think of it this way: You've gone through the expense and time of making a homemade sauce, a good couple shavings of parmigiano regianno will help your sauce bloom into a savoury blessing. Well at least it won't make it taste like cat puke!

So today I'll clean up. I'll even put up a couple of curtains and sequester my knitting crap to only one corner of the living room. Maybe I'll even have time to take a shower before the DH comes home. A girl can dream can't she?